Update 01/07/2021: The Starbucks was unanimously voted down upon first reading. I'll keep you updated if Starbucks comes back to the drawing board as I suspect they will. Previous Story: First of all, I just want to say sorry for going AWOL for a couple months. The end of the semester got sort of busy… Continue reading The Starbucks Project is Really Bad, Actually.
I've long been a big fan of the sort of baseline liberal agenda the County Council and County Exec Sam Page have been able to implement on a number of fronts: paid maternity leave, the elimination of salary compensation history in the application process for county jobs, a $15 minimum wage for all county employees,… Continue reading St. Louis County Should Lead on Zoning
On Saturday, June 6th, I participated in the Kirkwood Teachers of Color-organized, Black Lives Matter Peace Walk. Early in the week leading up to the event, it seemed like the walk would be a somewhat controversial and divisive event for a pretty quiet, wealthy suburb; one likely attended by no more than a couple hundred… Continue reading Our Zoning is Racist: a multi-family housing story
Coronavirus is really bad. But there's always a silver lining! Here are three things that I think constitute it. And how we can keep them going after our long national nightmare is over. 1. Zoom City Government Meetings The single greatest thing to happen in the last 25 years to democracy as it exists in… Continue reading Silver Lining Playbook: 3 Good Things From in the Past 2 Months
I've been going on a lot of walks lately. Usually I take a left onto Geyer and keep going straight until I get to Kirkwood Park of take a right on Woodbine and weave my way towards downtown. One day last week though, I hooked a right on Big Bend for whatever reason and ended… Continue reading Meacham Park & the Looming Threat of Coronavirus
Update 04/17/2020 Since this article was first published the roads in Kirkwood Park have been closed to vehicular traffic which is a huge win! The fight goes on in trying to get beg buttons turned off as well as in getting some streets in Downtown Kirkwood opened to foot traffic. It appears that Trailnet has… Continue reading Coronavirus & Walkability: A Gameplan
On Thursday February 27th, Kirkwood City Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed changes to our zoning code. Those changes cover four-ish main areas: Single-family lot coverage, multi-family density and height, signage, and bicycle parking. Lots of things will be tweaked but it appears that very little will change. All streets inside circle… Continue reading Height, ADUs & Kirkwood’s Backwards Vision
This is part one of a three part series on housing. In this post I seek to quantify and contextualize the extent of Kirkwood housing situation, and explain its importance. In the accompanying companion pieces I will first examine the current politics of the issue within Kirkwood and offer suggestions for reform. In the third… Continue reading Housing in Kirkwood Explained
There's a case to be made that the hallmark of a place being legitimately urban is not tall buildings, a subway system or a perfectly intact street grid but rather the presence of alleys. And even if there's not a case to be made, I'm about to try and make one! Just because alleys are… Continue reading The Great Alley Revival
Two years ago today I published my first blog post on this website. That post was Kirkwood Road Re-imagined, an analysis of the street that is the heart and soul of downtown and the city as a whole. This time I want to look at what is perhaps Kirkwood's most underrated street: Jefferson Ave. Context… Continue reading Jefferson Ave Re-imagined: 8 Steps to Making a Better Street
